As a neophyte in the noir genre, both Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon and Chandler’s Farewell, My Lovely have given me insight into what the genre consists of. As I have mentioned before, it was originally difficult for me to distinguish between a show like CSI and the noir of The Maltese Falcon. What I have come to appreciate, however, having read several examples and watched accompanying film is that the noir genre revolves around an atmosphere. As far as I can tell right now, the genre often revolves around these detective stories because they most efficiently communicate the noir vibe. That is, you immediately get the sense that the characters are operating in the gray areas of the world. While the main character may not be doing anything illegal himself, he is at least around a world of criminals and is always invited to join the world of criminals. At the same time, the main character has many shady aspects about himself anyway. Whether it involves getting involved with married women or abusing power by violently getting revenge for someone that hired them, it is an atmosphere of mistrust, double-crossing, and unpredictability. The noir genre forces the audience to remember, undeniably, that they are living in a dark world where people will do illegal and shady things to achieve their end. Whether the end is catching a criminal, satisfying a vice, or something else, noir exposes the dark side of human nature. What’s more than that, noir does not always give the audience a clear indication at the end that the “good guy” has won. First of all, it seems that there is not always a good guy, and, second of all, if there is, they may not be the big winners by the end. All of these factors about the stories and the structure of the stories within the noir genre combine to make the chief characteristic of noir its atmosphere of darkness in all aspects.